This invention relates to the manufacture and handling of sealed, generally flat packages, and in particular it relates to an improved apparatus and method for flattening such packages.
Packages containing powdered or granular material are generally filled from above, in an upright condition, causing a majority of the product to settle to the bottom of the package, rendering that end much thicker than the top end. However, for economical placement of a group of these packages into a larger carton or the like, it is necessary that the individual packages be substantially flat. Flattening of the individual packages requires manipulating the packages so as to shift a portion of the product away from the thicker end and towards the thinner end of the package.
Heretofore, flattening of the individual packages has been carried out by an arrangement of the type as shown in the Field U.S. Pat. No. 3,645,198, according to which the individual packages are transported in a horizontal plane between upper and lower opposed plates, which plates exert a uniform pressure against opposed surfaces of the individual packages.
However, while these prior arrangements have proved satisfactory for certain products which flow more freely, such as agglomerations, they do not cause sufficient movement within the individual packages when the product is a more fine powder, especially a sugar based product. An apparatus of this type will have a tendency to compress the powdered material located at the thicker end of the package without necessarily causing any significant portion thereof to shift within the package to the opposite, thinner end.
Hence, there exists a need for a new and improved arrangement for flattening out packages containing solid flowable materials such as powdered or granular materials, which arrangement will be more effective for all types of solid flowable materials, especially materials which are not easily shiftable within the package, such as fine powdered products, for example, sugar based powdered products.